Flyweight Felines

The short, intriguing lifespan of Jaguar's racing E-types

Feature Article from Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

In the ordinary world, the Jaguar E-type is noted and revered for its faultlessly drawn Malcolm Sayer shape, its exclusivity, its utter beauty. Not usually, though, for being a track warrior. There are some valid exceptions to this. Specifically, a dozen of them, the sum total of lightweight racing E-types that Jaguar produced. The first, actually, was a famous aerodynamic coupe with registration number BUY 1, raced by Surrey dealer John Coombs.

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By 1962, BUY 1 had been reconfigured into a more production-appearance E-type hardtop and re-designated as 4 WPD. Graham Hill took it to a win at Snetterton, the vanguard of the 11 additional lightweights that were constructed during 1963. Only four came stateside, three to Briggs Cunningham and one to Kjell Qvale. Structurally, they mirrored the production E-types, but the monocoques, body sheetmetal and hardtops were all fabricated from aluminum. That translated to at least 250 pounds being saved. The twin-cam Jaguar six retained its 3,781cc displacement, but received a wide-angle head with bigger valves and high-lift camshafts. Whereas BUY 1 had triple Weber carburetion, the dozen lightweights adopted Lucas mechanical fuel injection.
They easily made 300hp and for all their rarity, enjoyed a measure of success on American road courses against German, Italian and American products, the latter consisting of Cobras and Corvettes. During their tenure, which only lasted through 1964 exclusively in the hands of privateers, Dave Friedman was the factory photographer for Shelby American, which, depending on rules, faced the lightweight E-types as their prime competitors. "They were reasonably common sights in their time. They were in the A and B Production races, ran in the USRRC for a couple of years, plus at Sebring," Dave said. "But the bulk of the field in the GT-type races were Corvettes, Cobras and Ferraris."

This article originally appeared in the May, 2013 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.